Jacquie "Tajah" Murdock, 82, in one of the Lanvin ads for the autumn-winter collection. Photograph: Steven Meisel

The era of the big-name supermodel may be coming to an end, if the new advertising campaign by Lanvin is anything to go by. Inspired by the increasing popularity of street style blogs, the French fashion house has created a series of advertisements featuring "real" people rather than models wearing its autumn/winter collection.

Former Lanvin models such as Aymeline Valade and Marte Mei van Haaster have been replaced by a cast of non-professional models ranging in age from 16 to 82, including a waiter, a milliner, a blogger, a philanthropist and a retired dancer.

Lanvin's creative director, Alber Elbaz, described the campaign, shot by photographer Steven Meisel, as a way to "bring these clothes back to the street somehow. It felt like a crazy family, and I like that."

Judging by the response online, many others liked it too. Photographer Amanda de Cadenet, the Italian Vogue editor, Franca Sozzani, and online fashion store Styloko all voiced their approval on Twitter, while Melanie Rickey, Fashion-Editor-At-Large blogger and editor at large at Grazia, said: "Models are a blank canvas to project style on to, but these are people you would sit with at a party and get to know."

The "real" people approach has been building in fashion in response to the growing influence of blogs documenting street style. The Sartorialist, Face Hunter and Jak & Jil are among sites showcasing fashion as it is worn in everyday life. Subjects may include the French Vogue editor, Emmanuelle Alt, and Anna Dello Russo of Vogue Japan, but these fashion insiders are still going about their daily business rather than starring in a glossy magazine shoot. "There's more celebration of the relationship between real-life stylish people and their wardrobes," says Lucie Greene, insight editor at trends forecasting network LS:N Global. "We're more excited by the idea of fashion as personal expression."

LK Bennett conducted a national search for women to appear in its Life is the Occasion campaign, while Ben Sherman worked with style magazine Dazed & Confused to cast a gallerist, drummer and apprentice umbrella maker in its Brighton to Tokyo ads.

Meanwhile, French brand The Kooples, which launched in the UK last year, has become instantly recognisable for ads featuring real couples wearing its clothes.

"It fitted perfectly with the audience they were aiming for," says Ruth Mortimer, the editor of Marketing Week, "young, cool people who take their clothing cues from fashionable people they know rather than traditional glossy ads in magazines."

The age range of Lanvin's subjects also suggests the fashion world may be becoming less obsessively focused on youth. The inclusion of Jacquie "Tajah" Murdock, 82, and Tziporah Salamon, 62,was inspired by Ari Seth Cohen's blog Advanced Style, which features photographs of flamboyantly dressed older women in New York. "An older model can communicate something deeper about a brand than someone who has less life experience," says Cohen. "I hope that these images become the norm."

Others hope so too, but believe the biggest disconnect between brand and consumer still isn't being addressed. "It's women in their 40s who actually buy things," says Alyson Walsh, who set up the over-40s fashion blog That's Not My Age. "It seems crazy not to address that."

Josy Spooner, booker of the Classics Division at Models 1, representing models from their late 20s to their 80s, agrees. "It's the middle ground that isn't being covered," she says. "Brands for women in their 40s and 50s are still using 17-year-old girls."

Meanwhile, Spooner is not worried that Lanvin's rejection of models suggests she will soon be out of a job. "The demand for models won't diminish," she says. "You don't want someone who looks like your next-door neighbour – you want someone gorgeous but who you can identify with."